s of years. In America, professional and public interest in the field of alternative care has grown to such an extent that, in 1992, the U.S. government established the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its mission is to speed the discovery, development, and validation of potential treatments to complement our current healthcare system. One of the OAM's first tasks was to develop a classification system for the dozens of various therapies and practices. The systems of alternative medical practice the OAM has classified so far share many common therapeutic techniques. Traditional oriental medicine and naturopathic medicine, for example, both use herbal remedies, acupuncture, and mind/body control. However, some alternative systems, such as environmental medicine and homeopathic medicine are distinct and separate. Following are some the more popular alternative therapies Americans use.AcupunctureAcupuncture is an example of a therapy once considered bizarre which has some scientific basis. An integral part of Chinese medicine for thousands of years, it is based on the belief that energy, which the Chinese call Qi (pronounced 'chee'), circulates along meridians in the body in the same way that blood flows (Furman). A diagram of the meridian system looks similar to those of our circulatory and nervous systems (Crute). When the flow of energy becomes blocked, an imbalance is created, resulting in pain or disease. To restore the proper balance and energy flow, acupuncturists stimulate specific points of the body along these meridians. Puncturing the skin with a needle is the usual method, but acupuncturists may also stimulate the acupuncture points with finger-pressure.Although Western physicians and researchers do not truly understand the concept of Qi, there is evidence that acupuncture can influence the movement or release of many chemicals in the body. Research conducted by D...
